Chattanooga Film Fest 2020: THE PANDEMIC ANTHOLOGY Review – Short Films for the Long Haul
Directed by Fabricio Bittar, Andres Kyriacou, Emerson Niemchick, (and more)
Written by Guillermo Carbonell, Daniel Pires, Giordano Gio, (and more)
The film festival world has had to pivot in unimaginable ways recently, so it seems fitting that the first ever virtual iteration of the Chattanooga Film Fest would team up with Fantaspoa Film Fest who have sponsored the first ever quarantined short film contest called Fantaspoa At Home. This group of mostly South American amateur filmmakers offers quick bites of life in quarantine and their visions of the future are predominantly bleak and despondent. This isn’t a deterrent by any means, and to be fair, there are also a few entries that inject a much needed sense of humor. To brighten things up even more, there are also a couple of really cute cats.
A dire tone is set from the start, with the first story set two years in the future where a couple, still separated and under lockdown, start to question why they’re even still together. Videos during the first months of quarantine whiz by showing dance parties, guitar serenades, and sincere kisses transmitted through the screen. These are images we can all relate to but it’s the jump to a not-too-distant future where nothing has changed that feels hopeless. It doesn’t help things either when they find out that the virus has evolved in a truly unexpected way. Other submitted films are just as inventive but they’re a little more bizarre and eccentric.
“Baldomero” from Argentina is all about the guy you call whenever you feel down. It’s the new normal of online dating with a twist: there’s actually a puppet controlling your new beau. That story, and “Macabre Hide & Seek” from Brazil about a killer creepy doll, let you see what these filmmakers just happened to have lying around their apartment and how they used those props to great effect. “Pyschopompo” uses a small talking statue of Anubis to spell out our inevitable doom in a fun way; this cute figurine of the Guardian of the Scale was probably in storage somewhere before the director pulled it out to use. (Speaking of dolls, there is a shout out to Trilogy of Terror in one of the above shorts, an always welcome reference.)
I did mention cats earlier, didn’t I? “Pyschopompo” has an adorable one skirting around and “Jerome: A Christmas Carol” (also from Brazil), wins the award for most memorable feline. The strangest creature, however, is found in animated form during a monstrous new game called “Strain Roulette” where friends / contestants vote on who among them is infected. The only entry representing the country of Cyprus shows a cartoon version of the spiky ball coronavirus molecule we all know and love. From time to time during the game, it pops up and tells you how much time is left until someone dies.
A lot of the shorts contend with the virus going on for years with governments breaking down and general chaos erupting. It would be fascinating to see if filmmakers on other continents would reflect that kind of desperation as well. Watching The Pandemic Anthology perfectly captures the fear of the unknown we’re all experiencing, like we are now living in the prequel to the apocalypse. These shorts have an immediacy and an intimacy that will probably never be duplicated because of the times we are living in. These filmmakers remind us that after we all make our own bread, we need to think about making art, too.
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The Pandemic Anthology
Summary
As part of Fantaspoa’s “Fantaspoa at Home” Filmmaking Competition, these featured segments are all from amateur filmmakers while in quarantine.
